american thoracic society

(American Thoracic Society) Premature infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be at even higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome than preemies whose mothers did not smoke, according to new research out of the University of Calgary.

In the first-ever experimental study to compare the breathing reflexes of preemies of smokers versus non-smokers, researchers found that babies whose mothers had smoked showed a number of signs of impaired respiratory function.

(American Thoracic Society) The widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the elderly does not withstand careful scrutiny, according to researchers in Alberta.

The vaccine does confer protection against specific strains of influenza, but its overall benefit appears to have been exaggerated by a number of observational studies that found a very large reduction in all-cause mortality among elderly patients who had been vaccinated.

(American Thoracic Society) There is a strong link between obesity and asthma and as the prevalence of both conditions has been increasing steadily, epidemiologists have speculated that there is an underlying condition that connects the two.

But one long-suspected link, the systemic inflammation associated with obesity, has been ruled out by a recent New Zealand study that found no evidence of its involvement.

(American Thoracic Society) Children who are physically or sexually abused are more than twice as likely to have asthma as their peers, according to a recent study of urban children in Puerto Rico.

In fact, physical and sexual abuse was second only to maternal asthma in all the risk factors tested, including paternal asthma and indicators of socioeconomic status.

(American Thoracic Society) Ventilator-induced injury in the lungs is responsible for a vast number of deaths in acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Even healthy surgical patients, who require temporary mechanical ventilation, are at risk of ventilator-induced lung injury.

Although such injuries have been reduced tremendously over the last few decades, a new study suggests, they have much further to go.

(American Thoracic Society) Boys may be more apt than girls to have childhood asthma, but, when compared to girls, they are also more likely to grow out of it in adolescence and have a decreased incidence of asthma in the post-pubertal years.

(American Thoracic Society) For the first time, a drug therapy appears to reduce lung function loss in patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to the results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 42 countries.

(American Thoracic Society) Following a low-sodium diet does not appear to have any appreciable impact of asthma control as once thought, according to new research.

(American Thoracic Society) Expectant mothers who eat nuts or nut products like peanut butter daily during pregnancy increase their children's risk of developing asthma by more than 50 percent over women who rarely or never consume nut products during pregnancy, according to new research from the Netherlands.

(American Thoracic Society) Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension -- chronically high blood pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs -- whose serum sodium levels are low have a very poor chance of survival and a high rate of right-heart failure, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania.